Rughooking by Elizabeth Martel

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Working at Night

I have very little experience hooking landscapes, and none whatsoever with a night scene, so I’m enjoying getting back to the teaching piece with Wanda Kerr…(in case you missed my earlier explanation….it’s an online course which is free to members of The Welcome Mat.) I’ve completed the large tree, and some of the far shore trees, and decided to start the night sky.I chose this variety of blues from my stash, but I wasn’t comfortable with the wide variation in the blues. I had promised myself I wouldn’t dye new wool for this project, and I didn’t….not really…..well I didn’t use any dye…….so that makes it fair. What I did do was take all this wool plus a bunch of already cut strips and soak it all in warm water and dish detergent, then simmer it all until quite a bit of dye had bled out. Then I added citric acid, and simmered until the water cleared. In other words I just redistributed the dye.Now my colours are more homogeneous, and I’m much happier with them. I used an off white (very pale grey) for the moon, and I tried a couple of options for the circle around the moon. This blue will NOT be staying put. Nor as I kept going, was I happy with the colour of the moon. The grey made it dull and I wanted it to have more ‘spark’ The two lightest blues were not a part of the “brew”.

As you can see, I also changed the location of the moon. It seemed to be too far off to the left, and I want it to be the centre of attraction….Just another example of my “mind changing”. I put it to the left originally, thinking it left more space for the reflection on the water……what can I say!

To improve the moon, I cut a few pieces of natural Dorr in a 4 cut and worked them in randomly . That gave it the ‘life’ I was looking for.

I used a pale spot dye for the reflection of the moon on the water, …but…

…ended up adding some of the Dorr natural to this as well. I haven’t decided yet just how I will do the rest of the reflection in the water, and I’m not really happy with the small trees….but this is my natural way to hook….trial and error….I tried to think everything out scientifically before I began the way Wanda suggested,…and ended up changing my mind anyway. …so I’m doing it the way that makes me happy.

There is still lots of snow on my front yard, but today I saw some snow bells peeking out along the driveway. Spring can’t be too far away now.